"Reply to Weelittledrummer,
You are factually wrong.The USA led coalition is still bombing hell out of the country.

US troops are shooting up civilian neighbourhoods and waging a racist war on the Iraqi poulation and of course there are large numbers of mercenary so called "contractors " in the country who are also waging their own privatised war." - GUEST,David - on 30 Jul 07 at 05:09 AM.

So I actually went and had a look. Since midnight on the 31st December 2006 to 3rd June 2007 here are the instances that Guest David is talking about on a month by month basis:

January 2007:
- There were 14 shooting incidents involving MNF Troops resulting in 27 deaths
- There were 7 Air Strikes resulting in 34 dead only 1 of the missions was a bombing mission.
- There were 2 Road Traffic Accidents resulting in 2 deaths.

February 2007:
- 4 shooting incidents resulting in 7 people killed 3 by the "large numbers of mercenary so called "contractors " in the country who are also waging their own privatised war".
- 3 Air Strikes resulting in 80 deaths all were bombing missions.
- 1 Artillery incident resulting in 4 deaths.

March 2007:
- 10 shooting incidents resulting in 22 people killed
- 5 Air Strikes resulting in 18 killed none of the Air Strikes were bombing missions (The casualties, six people, from one of those incidents are disputed and unverified).

April 2007:
- 1 shooting incident resulting in 1 death.
- 2 Air Strikes resulting in 9 dead none of the Air Strikes were bombing missions.
- 1 Artillery incident resulting in 4 people killed.

May 2007:
- 4 shooting incidents resulting in 5 deaths
- 6 Air Strikes resulting in 29 deaths one of the Air Strikes was a bombing mission.

To 3rd June 2007:
- 1 Air Strike resulting in 3 people killed - not a bombing mission.

Now then correct me if my arithmetic is wrong here but in total that provides me with corroborated fact (IBC data base maximum numbers used) that in five months:

- There have been a total of 19 Air Strikes of which only 5 of which were bombing missions.

- There have been 33 shooting incidents and only 1 of them involving civilian "contractors"

- In 154 days, 59 people were shot in Iraq by members of the MNF and 3 by large army of "civilian contractors".

So you tell me:

Is the US led coalition is still bombing the hell out of Iraq? - I don't think so.

Are US troops shooting up civilian neighbourhoods and waging a racist war on the Iraqi poulation? - Again, I don't think so.

Are large numbers of mercenary so called "contractors " waging their own privatised war in Iraq? - Once more, I don't think so.

Now here's a sobering thought for Guest David/ Respectful Albert et al. If Gorgeous George's pal, Saddam Hussein had been left in power, a position both GG and his followers all seemingly support, and if he had maintained his lower average - 23,716 Iraqi's would have died at his hands in one way or another in the same period that MNF Forces have killed in total 238.

The vast majority of Iraqi's being killed are being killed by those who seek to protect them from the foreign invader, sectarian tit-for-tat killings and criminal activity. Remember Saddam emptied his jails before the invasion, emptied them that is of criminals, not the political prisoners, those he had put to death.

The truth as far as members of Respect goes is only what happens to be convenient at any given moment. A rag-tag bundle of emotive clap-trap made up of myths, half-truths, downright lies and misrepresentations. Gorgeous George wouldn't know the truth if it jumped up and bit him on the arse.